elusive wrote:Whats your status manchesteral. Im abit confused as to what stand point you are coming from. You seem to be confusing the issue as what im getting from your posts is you come here on frequent holidays and nothing more. If thats the case then yes you can registar at the hospital with your ehic to cover you for any problems you have while on holiday. Also for your friend they are entiltled to use a ehic for ongoing treatment.but that is only for residents of other countries on holiday in spain.thats totally different interms to what the op is asking about.Its a legal requirement to apply for residencia after you have been in spain for 90 days with an intent to make spain your habitual residence. Its not a requirement if you are on a 4 month winter holiday for example.

The O.P isnt looking for benefits they were been advised to go self employed inorder to gain their healthcare which they could then use when applying for residencia .if this is succesful they could then close their "business" and keep the healthcare. Although i wonder if that might be an issue as they gained it as self employed rather than under the new residence royal decree. Might they have to reapply as residents. All abit of a minefield.quite a few non residents have applied and been given healthcare. I dont believe the actual law says you must be a legal resident to get it.it covers everyone in the country

You have answered your own question, I understand that residency is a different thing, the point I'm making is that hospital treatment is available to anyone falling ill on Spanish soil and that you can register without being resident, sorry I can't make my point clearer.

Yes what you say is true. But that doesnt really help the o.p. You are talking about a different senario to the o.p, myself and others.They are wanting to move here full time but need healthcare to be able to get their residencia. They cant use their EHIC as proof as healthcare inorder to get residencia as the law doesnt allow it. And they cant get medical insurance because of pre excisting problems. They can use their ehic as "tourists" for the first three months but after that they are stuck.. unless they start acting illegally which im sure they dont want to. You registaring your Ehic card as a tourist and getting healthcare if needed is different to someone coming here to live full time and needing some form of healthcare to become a legal resident.